[JoeFromSidney]

But...but...but doesn't this mean houses will be more affordable? Isn't that what Fannie and Freddie and the Fed were trying to do, make houses affordable? For home buyers, it sounds great to me. But then I own my house free and clear, and I'm not selling

[Mr. Jeeves]

But...but...but doesn't this mean houses will be more affordable? Isn't that what Fannie and Freddie and the Fed were trying to do, make houses affordable?

"Affordable", of course, does not mean the prices return to reality, it means finding new and unethical ways of loaning vast amounts of money to everyone who is within megaphone distance of being qualified so they can afford to pay those inflated prices and in so doing prop up the system of selling mortgage-backed securities to pension funds and foreign governments around the world.

In particular, commercial real estate prices returning to reality will make everybody's 401K go down another 40%, on top of the headline-making stock declines. Those were the "safe" fixed income investments you were told about.